Both sides are claiming happiness and eternal good will, which I am sure is the greatest piece of fiction to come out of this deal. The New York Times reports the details of the agreement have not been disclosed but the shut-out of authors has been ended. Until Amazon picks a new target.

The state of Pennsylvania is one of the two or three states in the country that does not have a state mechanism for funding schools. Essentially, each year school districts go to the state capital separately and ask their local representatives to fight each other over an unspecified, unbudgeted amount of pocket change that might possibly be used to some degree to fund the schools in the state. Please do not ask how well this works.

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission -- which it could be argued has never understood either the words "School" or "Reform" -- yesterday, very quietly, very secretly, cut the health benefits for retired teachers, because somehow I guess the SRC's constant bungling is their fault. They also cut health benefits for current teachers, but they at least have legal steps they can take.

There's only one thing worse than the Philadelphia School Reform Commission's early morning assault on unionized teachers -- and that's the underhanded way they did it, in a fog of near secrecy, with a determination to squelch public debate. A...